Ep 330: MKR vs. MasterChef

In our remarkable return from the fight at Reichenbach Falls, we begin, once again, to investigate the world of television and what it’s good for.

We cover the way Girls has been covered in the media. Nelly Thomas tells us all about My Kitchen Rules and MasterChef: The Professionals. Also, in our news we spend a bit more time seeing the dinosaurs cough some of their last breaths as we look at Channel Ten and the relaunch of SBS 2.

I don’t understand the negativity about MasterChef: The Professionals. I find it to be the best season of MasterChef yet. My reasons:

Way less product placement than usual
Less drama, more cooking
Fewer “cliffhanger” eliminations, more honesty and direct communication
Fewer gimmicks
No George or Gary
Marco Pierre White is awesome

On the surface, Marco Pierre White has a “bad boy” image, but he’s actually quite warm, compassionate and charming in this show. The only thing that annoys me is the verbal tic he has of repeating words constantly when trying to motivate the chefs.

I think this show has actually surpassed Top Chef, and I love Top Chef. While Top Chef has been declining, MasterChef is hitting its stride, and using real chefs rather than “home cooks”.

My only real problem with this season, is that it has devolved into the regular MasterChef formula as it has gone on, but the first week or so of episodes were outstanding, and really broke out of the usual template.

Good to hear you guys are back for 2013. I was interested in your conversation about SBS2 – I too hold some reservations about whether the SBS2 rebrand does meet the SBS charter. That said…

With Josh reading aloud the requirements of SBS as cited in the charter, it should probably have been noted that SBS are nowadays managing NITV and broadcasting it nationally (hooray!).

Also, SBS2 is actually kind of cool from a progressive perspective as when new shows go to air on SBS2, they’ll be making every episode of the season available immediately on SBS On Demand once the first episode of the season has aired. It’s the first real sign we’re seeing from a network that they’re shifting their audiences toward an online consumption platform.

(I have some articles up about this on the Televised Revolution site, but it seems impolite to post them here).

Anyway, I suggest taking a look at SBS2 a bit closer as it really is offering the type of TV consumption experience that I think you guys are looking for.

The discussion on “My Kitchen Rules” didn’t get to talking about its comparisons with the show it’s obviously knocking off – “Come Dine With Me”… the british version of which I love, is tightly edited (5 half hour episodes and they’re done), and allows a reasonable range of views of classes and types of people onto the show (given, again, there’s only 5 contestants to feed rather than the eighteen or so that MKR seems to have).

I just find MKR too sprawling and too unfocussed to ever pay attention to long term, Although it’s probably this same sprawl that makes it a commercial TV phenomenon – you want something that will draw eyeballs for months and months.

Loved episode 330, especially the discussion at the start about Channel 10 and SBS.

It’s interesting to watch as the networks, in their panic about falling rating, decide to keep making more of the same stuff. To me, this is the point where they’ve got nothing to lose by taking some dramatic risks.

Come up with new directions for drama programs, and commit to producing them for a couple of years. Not more hospital, police, or law drama, but different things. Do some sci-if, some horror, mystery… Do something like the anthology shows that the UK used to do, where each stand alone story was effectively also a pilot! Those shows gave us things like Steptoe & Son and Callan!

Churning out the same old guff and reality shows that are already not doing well enough isn’t going to change a thing. Yes, taking risks means risking tanking horribly. It also means breaking the cycle and perhaps getting a leg up on the other channels – if you’re stuffed anyway, what is there left to lose?